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OLED iPad Pro Price Hikes May Be Lower Than Early Reports Suggested
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The fact that it is 11” will be enough for a lot of people.
Don't say it too loud in an Apple-centric forum... anyway yes, my Tab S9 feels just as fast as my M1 iPad pro... regardless of bechmarks... and that's the first time it happens. Back in 2018 my 11" pro run circles around my Tab S4 (still have both), and not just in terms of CPU speed, which was night and day but also 120hz, speakers etc. Now the S9 feels just as fast as Apple's flaghip 11" pro, has 120hz and has much better speakers. And the apps situation has improved a lot, although in some areas the iPad is still way ahead in terms of pro apps availability.
Duh. No one in their right mind would buy a product that's pretty much a pseudo-computer but price hiked like a full computer just because they changed the display.
To be fair, 128GB is now a travesty for a "Pro" iPad, and given the Pro Max iPhones start at 256GB, that makes a 128GB iPad Pro appear even stranger. I'd actually be surprised if they don't up the minimum storage on at least the 12.9" iPad to 256GB if there's a price hike.
All of these rumors are being floated by Apple’s PR.
My hope is for the iPhone 15 Pro Max price increase, which really wasn’t a price increase but a removal of the base storage and the second tier remained the same price. Only people impacted were the people who bought base storage.
My hope is for the iPhone 15 Pro Max price increase, which really wasn’t a price increase but a removal of the base storage and the second tier remained the same price. Only people impacted were the people who bought base storage.
Two stack tandem is a great example. So far, none of them have this and Apple will be the first to have it for OLED iPad Pro. Without it, Apple won't gonna bother to use it due to burn-in, high brightness, and more.
High specs are biggest difference as well such as max brightness which Samsung does not have such thing. Does Samsung tablet can achieve 1000~1600 nit brightness?
iPad Pro is a device for color critical workflow as nothing can replace it.
iPad Pro's PPI is already higher than Samsung tablet: 264 vs 239. Higher PPI on OLED is much difficult to manufacture especially 11~32 inch OLED display.
Apple tends to use LPTO on their OLED while Samsung does not.
Beside, Samsung tablets are far from professional uses. End of the story.
I'd welcome no price increase and hope you're right. It's still worth noting though, that this is no ordinary OLED. It's new technology, where you effectively have 2 OLED screens glued one on top of the other (dual stacked) to make it brighter. Given the level of miniaturisation and the new technologies involved and the lower yield rates and higher defect rates from new tech that's only just being scaled up to this level for the first time, the costs will start off high. Over time it will come down and with Apple's scale, I can see how this will ultimately bring the cost down over time for the same technology to come to maybe future iPhones at the current cost of the panels you have in today's iPhones.
Then Apple loses $100 from those who upgrade to 256GB model, plus the additional cost of OLED sounds like some math that shareholders won't be happy with unless Apple somehow manages to get the cost down on the iPad to make up for that.
Color me shocked, I say! Shocked! Of course they were never going to boost the 11” price to $1500. I don’t know why anyone ever believed Apple would introduce a price gap between the 12.9” iPad Air and the 11.1” iPad Pro of $600. That’s just insane. If that report were true, they’d introduce a new model in between the Air and Pro or would just not use the double stacked OLED displays until they were cheaper to make.
1. Apple shareholders generally don't care about these small details. They care much more about the bottom line.
2. Apple did this price structure change with the iPhones. They increased prices $100 for the iPhone Pro models but also increased base storage. Yes, there is also the OLED change for the iPad Pro so I suppose the price increase could be $150 instead of my predicted $100, but I'm sticking with the $100 prediction, despite this article's quoted prediction of "up to $160".
Eh? The cheapest current gen iPad, with a 2 1/2 year old processor, starts at £499 ($630 as per exchange rate- I don't know what it costs abroad). It also features cheaper display tech than my old iPad 3! 😅😅 Of course we could start looking at out of date iPads from the past and saying we can get those cheap, but then we'd have to compare them to Samsung's 5 year old stuff too.
Edit: Hold up! I just saw that the current gen £499 iPad has a PATHETIC 64GB of storage. That's the same as my iPad 3!!! 🤣🤣 That means the cheapest current gen iPad with a non-moronic amount of storage starts at a preposterous £679/$857!!!!!!! The situation is actually much more dire than I realised! No wonder iPad sales fell off a cliff. Yikes!! 😮
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iPhones 15 were also rumored to see a price hike and they didn't really. Well, except that there's no $1099 128GB 15 Pro Max, forcing you to spend $1199 for the 256GB version (256GB 14 Pro was also $1199 at launch.)
I feel this "price hike" for M3 iPads Pro will follow the same strategy. So, at the very least, there'll be no 128GB 12.9"-13" M3 iPad Pro model, forcing you to spend at least $1199 for a 256GB 12.9"-13" configuration.
The 11" iPad Pro, and possible 11" M2 iPad Air, will see no price hikes.
I feel this "price hike" for M3 iPads Pro will follow the same strategy. So, at the very least, there'll be no 128GB 12.9"-13" M3 iPad Pro model, forcing you to spend at least $1199 for a 256GB 12.9"-13" configuration.
The 11" iPad Pro, and possible 11" M2 iPad Air, will see no price hikes.
Or rumor sites needed traffic so they posted something crazy, like a $500-$1000 price increase just for OLED, to get clicks, comments, and engagement.
Since that literally just happened with the 15 Pro Max it's not all that hard to predict. Fine with me since I would never buy a 128GB iPad.
The cheapest iPad Apple sells as its current entry level model is US$309 (edu) as I stated. Anyone can order from the edu store in the US, but if you prefer to spend more, it is US$329 retail. In the UK, it is £369 retail. If you want to spend more for a different model, that's fine, but that is not Apple's current entry level.
As for the high cost in the UK, most of that price difference is due to the 20% VAT, and you can't blame Apple for the UK's VAT. Without VAT, in the UK it would be £307.50 retail (US$387), compared to US$329 in the US. Or if you prefer the higher end model, it would be £415.83 retail (US$524), compared to US$449 in the US.
But that's an old iPad you're discussing, not a modern one, and the price is higher abroad... even with your shenanigans like claiming we can all claim education discounts- you can't abroad, Apple use Unidays in the UK to verify student status, for example. At least use Google rather than just making **** up.
Why even discus that thing anyway? It's pure junk in 2024, as far as the technology in it goes. An embarrassment for the price.
In 2012 Apple offered iPads for decent value. The screens were brilliant for the time (still better than the current base iPad after they started cutting corners on lamination), and the processors were better than those in the current gen iPhones of the day.
Now base current gen iPads cost 25% more than in 2012, and come with iPhone processors from 2 1/2 years ago, rather than up to date tablet class chips.
If anyone thinks they're still selling as well as in 2012, please show us the numbers...
Edit: Before someone is dopey enough to chime in with, "ooh, but Apple sell a cheaper old iPad than you mentioned".... Yeah, and they did that in 2012 too, with the iPad 2 on discount.
Now base current gen iPads cost 25% more than in 2012, and come with iPhone processors from 2 1/2 years ago, rather than up to date tablet class chips.
If anyone thinks they're still selling as well as in 2012, please show us the numbers...
Edit: Before someone is dopey enough to chime in with, "ooh, but Apple sell a cheaper old iPad than you mentioned".... Yeah, and they did that in 2012 too, with the iPad 2 on discount.
The point I was making is the hardcore fanboys generally have a better understanding of this stuff than the general buying public.
The $309 edu iPad is the exact iPad I would recommend in the US for the entry level. It works just fine for a consumption device. In the US (and Canada where I live) anyone can order off the edu store, as edu ID is never checked by Apple for online purchases, so I usually don't recommend buying retail unless it's on sale. Warranty is the same for end user edu purchases, including for extended warranties provided by credit cards. But since it's different in other countries, I did provide US retail pricing as well.
If you compare other tablets that are half the price as you are suggesting how Apple tablets should be priced, well, they are not very good. They're all Android tablets which is bad on its own (since the Android tablet ecosystem sucks), but they are also bad even for Android tablets. The better quality Android tablets cost considerably more.
As for functionality, in my household we are still using the iPad Pro 2017 10.5" (4 GB RAM) and iPad 7th gen 2019 10.2" (3 GB RAM) no problem. Actually my daughter is just fine with her iPad Air 2 (2 GB RAM) as well, but I find it laggy. I have no such complaints with the iPad 7 or iPad Pro 10.5" as consumption devices. My son was also fine with our other iPad Air 2 in terms of performance for his entry level needs, but the battery is in bad shape so I gave him the iPad Pro 10.5. I will upgrade to something else, maybe the iPad Pro 11" OLED just to get that OLED screen. Luckily I can write it off as a business expense.
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The previous rumor was full of turd from a tech illiterate. OLED panels are produced in mass quantities now and are not expensive crowned jewels as it once was in the 2010s. LG and Samsung don't even produce LCD anymore lol---all they make are OLEDs and a tiny bit of MicroLEDs for large and uber expensive TVs.
I still think they're good kids toys, and gave a used iPad to my niece. Apple just aren't trying very hard with their iPads compared to when they were popular, and that's frustrating. It's like they're happy to let the line die a death, as they did with the iPod.
I bought my iPad 3 in Thailand for £340 (with the extra storage). That's alright for an occasional use consumption device, but current pricing has gone rather crazy, especially when considering all the corner cutting and outdated tech.
Sorry if I was a bit tetchy in my previous replies- I was just dumbfounded why someone would defend the current sorry state (including pricing) of the iPad lineup...